19 Dec
2011
19 Dec
'11
4:38 p.m.
On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 05:23:19PM -0500, David Riley wrote:
On Dec 17, 2011, at 11:23 PM, John Foust wrote:
Here (next door to to Zurich, Switzerland) it is very simple: show up at the
city recycling yard and drop off your stuff (cardboard, paper, glas, anything
electric/electronic, plastic bottles, cans (drink or otherwise)) for free in
the appropriate bins. Random other crap has appropriate bins too, but costs
around 40 cents/kg, which is considered cheap (this being Switzerland after
all).
Seems to work pretty well.
Kind regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison
At 03:10 PM 12/17/2011, Toby Thain wrote:
Every time I've bought tires here, I've paid a per-tire recycling fee.
We're supposed to deliver our e-waste to special collection facilities that
are open at various locations about once a month; you can specially request a
pamphlet from the garbage authority in Philadelphia that tells you when and
where the e-waste events are. It's hardly a surprise that no one deals with
their electronic waste properly; I have a whole bucket full of alkaline
batteries that I haven't disposed of properly because I can never remember
when the damned events are.
At least when I lived in Baltimore, I could take it to the county dump any
day I pleased and drop it in the appropriate bin. They also had bins for car
batteries, air conditioners, refrigerators fluorescent lamps, motor oil and
other things that are better dealt with out of the waste stream, and they
were all out in the main recycling dump area. I don't see why Philadelphia
can't do the same; perhaps I should check to see if there's an alternate
solution involving the county instead of the city. But how do we direct e-waste (for example) into
the hands of people who
are picking it apart for non-renewables, rather than it ending up in
landfill by default? That's the unsolved part.
Some countries and states have enacted laws to require it. In Japan, for
example, you pre-pay a recycling fee when you buy an appliance, and
retailers and manufacturers are required to accept used appliances. In my
state, Wisconsin, you can't put e-waste in the trash any longer. It has to
go to a special e-waste collection site. My waste management company
doesn't seem to care if I put a bare metal PC case in the trash. If it
showed any wires or circuit boards, I don't think they'd take it.